1938 Aung San joins Burma freedom party
23-year-old Rangoon student Aung San, later the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, becomes general secretary of a freedom party, Dobama Asiayone (Our Burma Union)

1941 Aung San trains in Japan
Aung San and some revolutionary colleagues (the Thirty Comrades) receive military training in Japan, aiming to evict the British from Burma

1941 December 28 Aung San supports Japanese
Burmese politician Aung San raises a Burma Independence Army in Thailand to support the imminent Japanese invasion of his country

1942  January Aung San's army enters Burma
Aung San's Burma Independence Army enters Burma as part of the Japanese invasion

1942  May Japanese take Burma
Burma becomes the last in the series of important southeast Asian territories to fall into Japanese hands

1942  May Slim leads British forces from Burma
William Slim gets the remaining British forces back to India from Burma, in a fighting withdrawal that lasts two months

1943 October Slim commands campaign to recover Burma
British general William Slim is appointed to command the Fourteenth Army, formed specifically for the campaign to recover Burma

1944  March-June First Allied victories in Burma
William Slim secures the first Allied victories in the Burma campaign, at Imphal and Kohima in northeast India

1945 Aung San Suu Kyi born in Rangoon
Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, is born in Rangoon

1945  March 20 Slim takes Mandalay
William Slim drives the Japanese from Mandalay and moves on south to take Rangoon

1945  March 27 Aung San changes sides
Aung San's army, now named the Burma National Army, changes sides in a surprise move and attacks the Japanese

1946 Aung San is prime minister of Burma
Aung San's party, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, wins a landslide victory in the Burmese election

1947 Aung San assassinated
33-year old Aung San, prime minister of Burma, and six of his ministers are assassinated during a cabinet meeting

1948 U Saw hanged for Aung San assassination
U Saw, a political rival of Aung San in Burma, is hanged for having plotted his assassination

1960 Aung San's widow is Burmese ambassador to India
Aung San's widow, Ma Khin Kyi, moves with her children to Delhi, as Burma's ambassador to India

1962 Ne Win seizes power in Burma
General Ne Win seizes power in a coup in Burma and establishes a single-party isolationist dictatorship

1962 Students killed in Rangoon demonstration
A peaceful demonstration at Rangoon university is dispersed by gunfire, resulting in the death of dozens of students

1962 Foreign visits to Burma restricted
Foreign visits to Burma are restricted to three days (extended in the next decade to one week)

1964 Aung San Suu Kyi becomes student in Oxford
After graduating from college in India, Aung San Suu Kyi moves to England to continue her education at St Hugh's College in Oxford

1965 Continuing student demonstrations in Burma
Student demonstrations against Ne Win's rule become regular occurrences, suppressed with military violence

1972 Aung San Ssu Kyi marries English academic
Aung San Ssu Kyi maries Michael Aris, an English academic specializing in the history of Buddhism

1987 Unlucky currency withdrawn in Burma
Most of the currency in circulation in Burma becomes worthless when Ne Win replaces it with new 45 and 90 kyat notes (he says 9 is is his lucky number)

1988 Student activist Phone Maw shot in Burma protest
A protest against the new Burmese currency escalates after the military kill a student activist, Maung Phone Maw, on the campus of Rangoon university

1988 8888 Uprising in Burma
Students demonstrating in Rangoon are joined by civilians and monks in what becomes known as the 8888 Uprising (from the date, 8/8/88)

1988 Saw Maung seizes power in Burma
General Saw Maung seizes power in Burma and crushes the 8888 Uprising, by now nation-wide, with probably about 3000 deaths

1988 Free election promised in Burma
Saw Maung calls his new regime the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) but promises to hold a free election in 1990

1988 Aung San Suu Kyi leads new party
A new party, the National League for Democracy, is formed in Burma with Aung San Suu Kyi soon becoming its leader

1988 Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi returns to Burma from England, to look after her dying mother

1989 Aung San Suu Kyi arrested
Before the coming election the military junta in Burma places democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest

1990 Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest
Aung San Ssu Kyi remains under house arrest, and is not released till 1995

1990 Aung San Suu Kyi wins election
Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins an overwhelming victory in Burma's general election but the military refuse to hand over power

1991 Nobel Prize for Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous fight for democracy in Burma

1992 Than Shwe takes power in Burma
Saw Maung resigns as Burma's dictator and is replaced by Than Shwe (who still heads the junta some 20 years later)

1995 Aung San Suu Kyi is conditionally released
Aung San Suu Kyi is released, and told that she can leave the country but will not be able to return

1997 Aung San Suu Kyi's husband denied entry permit
Aung San Suu Kyi's husband is diagnosed in England with cancer, but is refused an entry visa to Burma

1999 Aung San Suu Kyi's husband dies in England
Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, dies in England

2000 Aung San Suu Kyi back under house arrest
The Burmese junta again places Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, a restraint that has continued - with one break - till the present time

2005 No change for Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest nearly 20 years after winning Burma' only free election

2007 Fuel crisis in Burma
The Burmese government removes fuel subsidies, causing massive price rises for consumers

2007 Demonstrations begin in Burma
Demonstrations begin in Burma against the recent increase in fuel prices

2007 Monks lead escalating Burmese demonstrations
Large numbers of monks in Burma march in support of the escalating nation-wide demonstrations against the government

2007 Violent repression in Burma
After continuing daily escalation of the protest in Burma, nation-wide, the junta order arrests and military intervention

2007 Monks arrested in Burma
Burmese monasteries are raided, and monks are arrested and taken away all over the country

2007 Internet access blocked in Burma
The Burma junta seals the country off by blocking all internet access

2007 UN envoy reaches Rangoon
Ibrahim Gambari, a United Nations envoy, arrives in Rangoon

2007 Burma junta quells protest
The streets of Rangoon are virtually empty, with crowds dispersed by fear during the day and by curfew at night

2007 Gambari in talks with Aung San Suu Kyi
Ibrahim Gambari is allowed to visit Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence, and has another meeting on October 2

2007 Unknown number of deaths in Burma
Estimates of the number of deaths in the suppression of the Burmese uprising range from a few hundred to several thousand

2010  November 13
Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest in Rangoon under certain conditions

2012  April 1
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party win almost all the 45 available seats in Burma's nation-wide by-elections

2012  September 29
Burma's president Thein Sein says that he would accept Aung San Suu Kyi as his successor